Fine Line
by Sar'Kalu
Summary: OneShot: When an argument escalates between Sirius Black and Severus Snape, the consequences leave Remus Lupin reeling. After all, there is a fine line between love and hate. Contains Slash!


There is a saying that there is a fine line between love and hate. And sometimes, that brewing of hate can explode in the most, unusual, way possible. So it was that Remus Lupin walked behind his cocky best friend Sirius Black as they made their way to the basement of Black Manor. Severus Snape stalked behind them, his wand already drawn. Remus wasn't entirely sure how this had occurred. Sure, the usual taunts and threats had been bandied about, but something this time had changed. Sirius' chest had been heaving with some emotion, an emotion that Remus thought to be hate. After all, you don't challenge a prospective love interest to a second degree duel. Or first blood duel. It was mildly terrifying that Severus had accepted as well. Now he was following two men who loathed each other into a dank dingy basement to ensure they didn't murder each other. Remus, for some strange reason, was scared shitless. When they had arrived the stone walls had flickered eerily with light from the sconces.

"Okay, Severus, Sirius you know the drill, bow, walk the ten paces, spin, wait for my mark." Remus said nervously. His golden eyes fixed upon his school yard friend.

The two men did as he directed, Sirius in a grandiose flashy way, while Severus was far more restrained, and yet there was a subtle snap to his movements that belied his reserve. Severus was excited, his black eyes shining with fire and enthusiasm. This was something he excelled at. Sirius in comparison was cock sure, but his eyes were, nervous? Apprehensive. And hate filled. The two men were glaring at each other, eyes filled with hate and loathing. Wands trained on each other as they spun grandly. Sirius' too small shirt pulled up as he raised his wand above his head. Severus' robes swirled about his feet, making him look even more like a malevolent bat than usual.

"Mark." Remus called, hastily erecting his best shield spell.

Severus moved first, like a coiled snake he sent off no less than ten spells in a space of fifty seconds. The shining lights of the curses and jinxes cast sickly shadows against the walls. Sirius yelped and erected a strong defensive shield. His wand movements shaky and panicked. Sirius hadn't been practicing at all, he was cooped up too much. Severus however was daily sent into a dangerous situation, his life depending on his reaction times and his reflexes.

Remus studied the two men, Sirius was flushed with excitement now, his old auror training coming back to him. Remus could almost see Moody standing behind his friend screaming "Faster! Faster, boy! Surely you can be faster, stronger, quicker!" Severus however wasn't as nervous, he had quickly settled into a rhythm of fire a spell, avoid any magic sent his way and renewing his shield charm every third shot. It was spectacular to see. They were both very good. Remus could see why the Potions Master desired to be the Defense professor. He'd be good at it. Remus actually doubted there was any difference between his potions or defense skills. Remus mused upon this as he ducked an entrail expelling curse, disgusted with himself he added a complex curse protection spell to his shield charm. Severus stepped forward, and Remus blinked as he recognized the technique. The decrease of the distance between duelers decreased the time that the spells hit the other person, making it harder to dodge the spells. Your reaction times had to be completely spot on to avoid a spell from a five-step-distance duel.

Although, Sirius and Severus were closer to seven steps now as they baited each other by taking a step closer every so often. Severus grinned tightly, something that seemed to worry Sirius faintly as Severus stepped forward once again. Six steps. Sirius waved his wand shouting an unknown spell. Remus watched as a shining blade of light appeared in Sirius' hands. It was the Heirs blade, all ancient family's had Lord, and Heir blades. Usually Goblin made these blades were insanely sharp, able to cut a piece of paper in half as it floated to the ground. They were also spell repulsive and resistant. Charmed not to rust or break, the Heirs blade was decidedly less flashy in comparison to the Lords blade. Sirius raised the blade, hesitantly pointing it at Severus, he charged.

Severus swore as he summoned his own blade, a Lords blade. Remus was stunned, the Snapes were a muggle family, where did he get a Lords blade from? Severus shifted the blade slightly, and the light from the sconces gleamed down its side in deadly beckoning. A single word ran down its side. Prince. The blades met with a resounding clang, Severus spun around moving so swiftly that he became a blur of black. He shed his robe with one smooth movement. Remus reached out and caught it, and saw Severus' barest inclination of his head.

Sirius frowned as he moved swiftly, incorporating his wand work into his sword play. The ringing of the blades was grating, but soothing. The blades set into a rhythm of flurry, lunge, parry and rip posts. Remus watched as Severus received a slice across the chest, the fabric of his shirt ripping, but no blood was spilt. Remus could see Sirius cursing as Severus lunged and the blade narrowly missed skewering Sirius, instead slicing into the shirt he wore. Remus blinked, this continued on for a while, the spell work becoming less important as the two men fraught almost purely physically, their shirts hanging off them in tatters. Severus lowered his blade in an invitation that Sirius gladly took. The two dark haired men ceased fighting.

"Well, round one was interesting." Remus said dryly.

Severus scowled as he waved his wand lazily and summoned bottles of water that were hidden in the fridge upstairs. Molly Weasley determined this necessity because she maintained that the water from the taps wasn't fit for anyone to drink.

Sirius gladly snagged one, raising it above his head he sculled half and then drenched himself with the other. "Merlin, Snivillus, you're actually half decent at dueling now." Sirius sneered cruelly.

Remus winced, that was fairly insulting as Sirius had been hardly able to hold his own against the former death eater. "Sirius," Remus said warningly.

Severus ignored the Lord Black though, his only reply was to remove his shirt, seemingly more interested in the fact that it was cut to ribbons. He didn't notice the fact that his thin, but whip cord lean body was having an effect upon Sirius. Remus smirked in amusement, Sirius had always loved beautiful things, and there was no doubt that the potions masters body was beautiful. Lean without an ounce of fat, but filled with decent muscles, Severus looked less like a bat without a shirt on, more like a dark prince.

Remus bit his lip to stifle the hysterical laughter that was threatening to burst out of his chest. Sirius had clearly taken Severus' removal of his shirt as a challenge, and Sirius, the vain fool had stripped his own shirt off. A year of good food had filled Sirius out, but he was no longer as handsome as he had been. Azkaban had taken its toll on him. Severus' eyes however had been reluctantly dragged to that all male body however, and it couldn't be more obvious that the two men were obliviously checking the other out. Remus choked on his laughter, the utter ridiculousness of the situation was hilarious.

"If you're ready to duel, Black," Severus sneered, his eyes glowing with hate and lust. "Unless of course you'd much rather flex your non existent pec muscles?"

Sirius yelped in indignation, "I'll have you know that I'm in perfect condition!"

Severus raised an eye brow, sneering, "I see."

"Enough, swords, wands, bow, walk, ready?" Remus barked attempting to stop the childish fighting. "Mark!"

A flurry of spells hailed towards Severus who was forced to duck and give ground. Grinding his teeth furiously, Severus ran forward and cast "Sectumsempra" while swinging his blade. Sirius ducked the curse and swiped the blade aside. Scrambling backwards he found himself pinned against the wall, a blade at his throat. Sirius hissed a desperate expulsion cleaning charm, usually used on dirty radiators, that shot Severus backwards. Remus raised an eye brow at Sirius' improvisation. Severus flipped himself upright forgetting his wand, he charged back into the fray. The furious and loud battle of swords rang out across the basement. Sirius broke the dead lock with a stunning spell, Severus retaliating with a rip post with his blade, followed by a bat bogey hex. Sirius cried out the counter charm as he landed heavily on the floor. Scrambling up, he attacked in a flurry of blows, Severus backed up, his obsidian eyes fixed upon Sirius' steel grey ones.

Remus sighed as the two men were caught in another deadlock, this time it was not just a battle of the wills, but strength also. Their eyes stared deeply into each other, as both employed non verbal legimancy upon each other. Their blades were locked in combat, the guards pressing up against them. Hands pressed into chests as the two dark haired males leaned into each other. Noses barely apart, breath whispering against the other. With a cry, Sirius flung himself backwards, swinging his blade aside, the whining hiss of the blade scraping against Severus', woke Severus from his stupor. Remus watched at the two men stuck to steering clear of the other as they reverted to a magical fight. Spell after spell was flung between the two opponents. Remus couldn't even identify them individually with his wolf senses, the lights blurring into a sickly multihued stream of light.

There wasn't a particularly obvious shift, but the two men began the subtle dance towards each other, swords snaking like deadly vipers. Thirsting for blood, Severus' Lords blade swept up and hit Sirius under his jaw. Sirius had seen a similar opening and did the same. The potions master and ex convict stared at each other, blades at each others throats, a sudden life like portrayal of their life to date. Their verbal sparring had been as deadly as a Goblin steel blade, singing with malice and contempt. Now, with tension humming in the air, the two men saw each other truly for the first time.

Sirius saw Severus as Remus had always seen the potions master. Tortured by a dark past and abusive childhood, scarred mentally, emotionally and physically by his class mates, parents, teachers and peers, Severus simply ached for, desired respect. Something that Sirius had never bothered to afford him. Sirius saw.

While Severus saw Sirius, not as the pampered spoiled prince of the Black line, but as someone who was in the same position as he was, with scars in his past. And death in his future. Severus saw a lonely, frustrated man who was being cooped up to live when he wanted to escape and die. To be reunited with his best friend and adoptive brother. Severus saw.

Remus watched the two men as they were forcibly, the the point of their opponents blade, forced to revise what they knew of the other. The saw, for the first time in over twenty years. And finally, they forgave and apologized for a thousand wrongs, a thousand slights. Remus observed two men grow up, and become better for it. Remus saw.

"Black?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"Snape?"

"I know, Black. I know."

"I know, but I need to say it."

"Okay."

"I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven."

"No I'm not. I can never be. I started it. It's my fault."

"Black?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, you're forgiven."

"Oh, okay."

"Good. Can we finish this now?"

"Good idea, Snape."

The ringing of metal upon metal started up again. Remus scowled at the thick headed males in front of him. Idiots. Apologize and then continue fighting? What the hell was wrong with them? Severus moved smoothly as he escaped the singing blade that Sirius swung at him. Grinning, Severus trapped the blade against the wall he'd backed Sirius up against. Trapping Sirius with his slightly taller frame, Severus bared his teeth in victory as his plucked Sirius' wand from suddenly nerveless fingers. Remus blushed at the obvious sexual tension that sang between the potions master and his ex nemesis. Sirius raised his free hand and caught Severus' neck with his calloused palm. Severus' eyes widened and he leant backwards slightly, his fight of flight reflexes kicking in. Rather belatedly too, as Sirius twisted the taller man against the wall and proceeded to rather violently make out with the dark haired man.

Remus blinked in surprise. Twenty years they had been skirting around each other, hiding behind hatred's skirts. Now, with their misconceptions cleared they were rather violently attacking each other in another, more primal way. Remus saw Severus drag one hand down Sirius' bare chest towards his pants. Their hips were locked together and the swords discarded on the floor. Remus whimpered, deciding that he should clear out pretty quickly. Waving his wand the swords jumped up and place themselves upon a conjured table. As they did so, Remus fled upstairs, locking the basement door behind him. Remus shuddered at what he had almost seen.

"Remus, honey, are you okay?" Molly Weasley asked him as she bustled past with the kids school robes.

"I'm fine Molly," Remus said, dragging a hand over his face. He didn't realize that he looked a right mess, his golden eyes wild with shock, and his brown hair mussed from watching his best friend and former colleague go at it with swords.

"What happened? You look like you could use a cup of tea." Molly said, ushering Remus into the kitchen. Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley and Ron Weasley sat at the table, Harry and Ron were playing chess and Ginny was watching. Hermione Granger was leaning on one of the counters drinking a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Hello, Professor Lupin." Hermione greeted politely. "Are you okay, you look a bit wild." She cast a concerned eye over him as Molly started to make tea.

"I'm fine Hermione, I just saw something I didn't expect." Remus admitted.

"The duel went okay then?" Harry asked curiously.

"It went fine, they're still down there actually," Remus said carelessly.

"Really? That's so cool, I wish we could watch them." Ron said enviously.

"Uh, they aren't dueling anymore, well, not with blades or wands." Remus said blushing.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Uh, apparently there is a very fine line between love and hate." Remus muttered, bright crimson.

Hermione and Ginny got the reference immediately and both turned bright red. Harry took a little longer before turning white then red and then green. Ron just looked confused. Molly looked up from where she was adding water to the cups and looked shocked, she didn't even notice when the cup over flowed.

"Sirius and Snape?" Harry asked revolted.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked confused.

"That's kind of sweet, in a scary kind of way." Hermione stated still blushing.

Ron screwed his face up in confusion, accepting the cup of tea his mother gave him. "I don't understand."

"Oh Ronald," Hermione said annoyed, "It's not that hard. Professor Snape and Sirius hated each other, but there was always a kind of tension following them. And I always wondered why Sirius never got married or looks at the women in the order. I guess Professor Snape is much the same."

Ron thought on that for a while, taking an absent minded sip from his cup. When it clicked in his head the effect was instantaneous. Hot tea sprayed the table and he turned white. "Do you mean that they're-?" He asked aghast. Ginny ducked under the table, giggling hysterically.

"Yes, Ronald. I'd say they're down there right now being adults," Hermione said faintly disturbed. "Not really something I want to think about." She turned bright red at that statement though.

Ron was floored, and as Fred and George walked in, it was the first thing he blurted out.

"Really, Ron, that's not very likely." Fred said laughing.

"Yeah, Ron, pull the other one!" George agreed.

Both twins laughed and then spotted Remus' and Molly's expressions, as well as Hermione's and Harry's. Ginny was still under the table and appeared to be choking on her laughter.

"No way!" The twins breathed in unison. "Sirius and the greasy bat of the dungeons?"

Remus wincing was enough of an answer. "They were dueling."

"How does dueling someone turn into that?" George asked

"Uh, well," Remus stuttered, "It went like this." Remus then spent the next hour explaining everything as well as a full account of the duel. The twins and kids had been suitably impressed by the duel. But when he got to the make out part they all screwed up their noses. The girls going bright red.

They were interrupted by the enterance of the men in question. Still shirtless, and sweaty they were laughing and joking. Wands and swords carried negligently in their hands, the swords balanced on their shoulders, they both looked incredibly pleased with themselves. Hermione let out a small whimper at the sight of her potions masters lithely muscular body. Ginny had dragged herself upright and was awed by his gleaming chest. Sirius, they both concluded was also handsome, but Severus was incredibly hot. Potions, they reluctantly concluded, would become fairly torturous from now on.

"Have fun?" Remus asked amused.

"Ah, Moony, I feel like a new man," Sirius said expansively. "Not to mention you missed the best part of our duel." Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Severus groaned at the bright red face of Lupin and the children. Molly Weasley looked a mixture of scandalized and smug. "Salazar help me from idiotic Gryffindors."

"Shut up, Severus," Sirius laughed.

Severus froze, "What did you call me, Black?" He asked

"You're name, I'd think after both of us screwing each others brains out that I'd be allowed to do that." Sirius laughed at Severus' horrified expression, pausing to wink at his half amused and half disgusted godson, he then dragged the reluctant yet pleased Slytherin up to his room.

"Well, that settles it," Harry announced. "Their happy, you're all forbidden from making noise about it." With that Harry grabbed Ron and Hermione and took them to his and Ron's room where they shut the door and burst into arguments and laughter.

Remus couldn't help but smile, Harry was right. They were happy. Remus hadn't seen Sirius that happy since James had died. And Severus had been smiling and laughing. He'd been so unhappy for too long. No, Remus thought as he disappeared to his room for parchments, ink and a quill to write to Dumbledore, this was a good development. Remus smiled happily, his pleased thoughts lighting up his face with a youthful joy. As he passed Nymphadora Tonks, he gave her a brilliant smile. He didn't see her double take or her blissful and euphoric smile after he'd left. Remus didn't see that. But he would soon.


End file.
